Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes said Tuesday that a decades-old personnel file proves he told the truth about his time as a Kansas police officer, though his detractors remain unconvinced.

Circa-1985 letters related to his termination validate Maes' claim that he cooperated with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation on a gambling probe, though he was not "undercover" as he originally asserted.

The documents also paint a picture of an inexperienced officer who confided details of an investigation to his fiancee, admitted the mistake to his boss and was fired for it.

His fiancee's brother allegedly ran the bookmaking operation that interested the Liberal, Kan., Police Department at the time.

Extras

Maes said he hoped to use the new information to reattract those who withdrew their support based on allegations that he embellished his resume, a development that could help him recover from a poor showing in recent polls. A poll released Tuesday showed Maes a distant third and dropping closer to the 10 percent mark that would relegate Republicans to minor-party status.

"The accusation that I somehow fabricated the story of working with KBI has now been completely debunked, and I would hope that my critics will now apologize with the same zeal they formerly used to attack," Maes said in a statement. "I would also encourage any Republicans who withdrew their support based on the inaccurate initial reports to reconsider their decision and once again support the Republican nominee for governor."

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Maes could not be reached for comment, but he told KRDO radio that apologies and new endorsements had not yet come rolling in.

Maes first ran into trouble with a statement posted to his campaign website that he was "place(d) undercover by the Kansas Bureau of Investigations to gather information inside a bookmaking ring that was also allegedly selling drugs."

He said he was "a young officer caught in a situation that was much bigger than myself," who "fought the machine" and "got too close to some significant people."

Maes removed that account from his website. When The Denver Post presented him with the account, he tempered his statements and said critics too narrowly defined "undercover."

But refining his story cost him.

Maes lost the support of former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown, one of his best-known backers, as well as support from a number of Tea Party leaders. Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams implored him to step aside and make way for a candidate with a better shot at winning.

Brown said Tuesday that the new information has not changed his thoughts about Maes.

"We had a number of concerns, not just this particular one," Brown said. "He very clearly held out he was an undercover policeman, not that he'd supplied information."

A recent poll commissioned by Fox News puts Maes at 15 percent support, far behind front-runner Democrat John Hickenlooper, with 44 percent, and American Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo at 34 percent. The survey has a 3-percentage-point margin of sampling error.

If Maes doesn't earn the support of 10 percent of voters on Nov. 2, Republicans would become a minor party in Colorado. As a result, GOP candidates' names wouldn't be on top of the 2012 ballot alongside Democrats.

Maes still believes he was fired for threatening powerful people, according to his campaign spokesman.

That's not necessarily something that would show up in a personnel file, said Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, who supports Maes.

"This has been the center of personal attacks on him. If he's actually had these interviews with KBI, that probably reinforces what he said before," said Lambert, who had not reviewed the file. "Let's get over this and concentrate on the issues."

The file appears to refute some statements by Kansas authorities.

The head of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, for example, said the agency had no record of Maes working undercover or helping on an investigation.

While then-Police Chief Rich ard Kistner said he has no recollection of Maes or a gambling inquiry, a July 10, 1985, letter he wrote refers to two meetings Maes had with KBI agents regarding the investigation.

Neither the KBI nor the agents who worked on the investigation at the time returned phone calls.

The chief's letter also alleges Maes withheld information about the bookmaking until the department learned about it from an independent source, a claim Maes denied both then and in recent interviews.

Maes was suspended and targeted for dismissal based on the suspicion that he told two suspects about the existence of the investigation during a confrontation at his fiancee's family home.

Maes was engaged to DeAnna Andrade at the time, and Maes said in a letter pleading for his job that the couple did not have a close relationship with her family.

He also noted in that appeal that a KBI agent investigating Andrade's brother and another man did not bar him from telling her that he had been interviewed about the gambling ring. Maes' superiors at the Police Department, however, instructed him to remain silent, according to the letters.

"My only misconduct has been the sharing of the pressures and anxieties of a complex investigation with the most important person in my life which has been loyal to me and my role as a police officer," Maes wrote in his appeal. "Neither I nor she have jeopardized any investigation."

What he said

ON WORKING "UNDERCOVER"

Original statement: "I was place(d) undercover by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to gather information inside a bookmaking ring. . ."

Restated: "Some people are probably taking that a little too literally. I was a city police officer providing information to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. . . . Those comments might have been incorrect comments."

The file: "You submitted to interviews by your superiors and members of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation..." wrote then-Chief Richard Kistner. "I met with KBI agents . . . at the Super 8 Motel. They re-interviewed me," Maes said.

ON BEING TOO CLOSE TO "SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE"

Original statement: "I got too close to some significant people in the community who were involved in these activities and abruptly was dismissed from my position." "I was a young officer caught in a situation that was much bigger than myself with no where to go." "This chapter of my life was yet another one where I fought the machine . . ."

Restated: "The impression I got was that my involvement with the KBI had put me too close to certain people in the city of Liberal who were very influential and involved in this gambling activity. I got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The file: No mention

ON INVESTIGATING "BOOKINGMAKING AND DRUGS"

Original statement: "a bookmaking ring that was also allegedly selling drugs."

Restated: No mention.

The file: No mention.

ON WHETHER HE TIPPED OFF SUBJECTS OF INVESTIGATION

Original statement: No mention.

Restated: Affirmed to The Post that while he spent time in the Andrade family home and the family knew he was a police officer, he did not tip off a family member about the investigation.

The file: Maes said he asked DeAnna Andrade (his fiancee) "if she had any idea of the danger the suspects had placed themselves in and the trouble they may be facing," he wrote. "My only misconduct has been the sharing of the pressures and anxieties of a complex investigation with the most important person in my life."

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